In, Out: A Political Hokey Pokey

26/05/2016 16:03
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Updated
26 May 2016

Emily Campbell
Law student, volunteer and part-time writer. Interested in Human Rights; politics and social activism; philosophy and ethics.

For many, doomsday is just around the corner. The 23rd June that is, marks the potential end to Britain's existence within the EU which for 'Bremainers' presents a daunting prospect comparable (apparently) to the sort of dismay that accompanies a 'FA cup loss.' How very English. For 'Brexiters' meanwhile as the 23rd June looms, so too does the doom that Britain will be condemned to continued membership of the European Union which has catastrophically ruined our lives and given you and I absolutely nothing but unmilky chocolate bars and bendy bananas in the process of our great nation's ruination.

Whichever way the British electorate decide to vote, provided they do of course vote, the EU Referendum debate or rather, row, has been reduced to little more than a petty squabble with increasingly absurd bids on the part of the Brexit and Bremain camps to out-do the other. Just this week BBC Radio 4 held a debate on the pro's and con's for butter that EU membership poses: it got heated. Just as we were living our lives free from worrying about butter, our views on butter have finally been challenged and here we are, worrying about butter.

Claim and counter-claim in the EU Referendum spectacle has seen a future-defining political possibility reduced to a political ping pong match and it's one which is embarrassing to watch. Where Cameron has unearthed a passion for low cost flights with visits to EasyJet and Ryanair, not to mention second hand cars in other gripping revelations this week, Boris has been seen waving Cornish pasties in Cornwall, which confusingly for his campaign enjoy an EU-protected status.

And what of Nigel Farage aboard his royally purple Brexit bus? Does this reflect Britain driving forwards, passenger to none, in our own buses on our own with our own fuel on our own roads? This morning was to see Mr Farage in a fit of giggles aboard his royally British bus as a result of his being struck on the head by a number of overhanging branches. Are these headline-making branches to be viewed as part of the endearing English countryside charm which should be untouched by any Eurocrat bid to amend the upheaval untrimmed branches cause for European citizens?

Britain's relationship with the European Union is being presented as a marriage gone wrong with Britain the party ready for divorce. Squabbling at the highest level is however divorcing the debate from its due seriousness and political sobriety in the face of what a potential exit could mean for Britain. Google searches encourage us to take a quiz to find out which way we should vote come the 23rd June game. In v Out is not a FA final. I am fed up of seeing a spectrum of coloured buses driving around the UK transporting squabbling men with dreadful haircuts, pasty eating politicians and the accompanying media hokey pokey.

A Northern Irish 21 year old and part of the Erasmus and post- Good Friday agreement generation, I have enjoyed studying, working, living and travelling across the European Union. I imagine it is obvious which vote I'll cast come doomsday. I condemn however the leaders of this country who have left so many others confused as to what is fact and what is fiction: never mind Great Britain, Britain is becoming littler and littler by the second.